Chairman of the Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF), Arbegna Meazaw Getu, has announced that the executive committee has decided to relieve Dr Mussie Tegegn from his responsibility as head of external relations. The letter signed by Arbegna Meazaw states that effective Oct. 28, Dr Mussie cannot represent EPPF in any capacity, and that another person will be appointed soon to take over his place. (see the letter here)
The decision by the EPPF leadership to replace Dr Mussie Tegegn was made after the executive committee became dissatisfied with his performance, particularly his continued disagreements and quarrels with EPPF supporters around the world. The EPPF leadership came to believe that because of Dr Mussie’s behavior and actions, the organization was unable to get the support of Ethiopians around the world. The leadership thought that he became more of a liability than an asset to the organization.
The firing of Dr Mussue is part of the ongoing organizational restructuring of EPPF. In the next few weeks, the newly reorganized EPPF International Committee, as well as EPPF representatives in various cities around the world, will be made public. One of the main tasks of the EPPF International Committee will be to establish contacts with governments around the world, explain to them the resistance group’s mission and try to get their support. A diplomatic committee will be created to hold talks with members of the European Parliament and the U.S. Congress. EPPF hopes to help persuade the U.S. Congress to impose sanctions on the Woyanne brutal regime in Ethiopia that is destabilizing and creating wars in the Horn of Africa region.
Meanwhile, senior official of the EPPF International Committee, Ato Sileshi Tilahun, who had been visiting with the EPPF leaders and the troops in the field, is returning to London today after a three-week visit. After arriving in Eritrea’s capital Asmara, he drove over 800 km of rough road to reach EPPF camps.
EPPF chairman Arbegna Meazaw told Ethiopian Review on the phone that Ato Sileshi’s visit had been productive and thanked him (in a statement released yesterday) for coming to visit leaders and members of the organization in the field.
Ato Sileshi also held meetings with high-level Eritrean government officials in Asmara. He thanked the Government of Eritrea for providing shelter to Ethiopian freedom fighters and political refugees who have fled persecution by the brutal tribal junta in Ethiopia. Eritrean officials on their part told him that the people and government of Eritrea are on the side of Ethiopians who are fighting to liberate their country from the scourge called Woyanne that has turned the Horn of Africa region in to a perennial war zone.
In Somalia alone, over 2 million people have been made homeless by an illegal and brutal invasion of the country by the Woyanne regime. In Ethiopia, over 6 million people currently face starvation while Woyanne leaders continue to plunder the country’s resources and steal foreign aid. In the Ogaden region, Woyanne troops are engaged in indiscriminate killings of civilians and burning down entire villages, as reported by many in the international community, including some members of the United State Congress.
By Tizita Kebede
The Daily Monitor
The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) announced on Wednesday its plans to start off operation of installed high-tech multi-inclusive equipments, and thus entertain about 6.5 million more customers during the current fiscal year.
While conferring with local media regarding the corporation’s performance assessment report at ETC’s head office, Amare Amsalu, CEO of the Corporation, Zelalem Bekele, Chief Technical Director, and Abdurahim Ahmed, Communication Affairs Division Manager, divulged the finalization of imports of varied facilities that can enable customers nationwide to utilize them from any locality which are cost effective at the same time.
The CEO said that in addition to the 4000 optical fiber installation, a 2000km additional installation carried out in last year’s budget year will help avoid the internet disconnection problems, particularly due to the malpractices of cutting off the fiber wires that had been witnessed in certain areas. Complementary radio equipment installations in all the service areas have also been operational and now are undergoing pilot-testing, according to Amare.
In parallel, ececutive officer addressed the need to engage in microwave transmission services where there are not optical fiber facilities. Wireless mobile phones are being allocated during this quarter year period to that end, he said.
To alleviate the problems related to the broad band internet network connections, Amare and his colleagues informed the press that 155 mega bites of more fiber links have been created both through links with Sudan and Djibouti, apart from installations of New Generation fixed network facilities which provide all-inclusive services delivery via data and audio-visual services that make use of fiber networks instead of copper networks which render limited internet connection and band width services.
“We believe this umbrella project will bring overall changes in service rendering in the capital as well as in the regions through out the country,” said Amare adding that after the installations are due, about 670 weredas will be capacitated to use the ellaoate broad band services such as video-conferencing, high speed data sending and receiving, among other cost effective transactions.
Meanwhile, to deliver automated services to the people a grand Customer Care and Billing project has been finalized during the past budget year, according to Amare. This project is undertaken such that it can serve close to15 million customers.
Updating ETC’s poor call centre services has also been imperative, admitted Amare besides to contending that, in order to escalate ETC’s present call centre to international standards and enable it to give appropriate services, a vast 750-seat modern call centre has already been built which is believed to entertain 16 million users at a time.
The officials in addition disclosed that to enclose the lower and lower middle section of the society in the phone service delivery, projects are underway to install up to 60,000 cost effective public pay-phones that can serve customers across the country wherever there are mobile as well as wire phone service signals and not necessarily terminals.
Besides to pay-phones, 15,000 E-cards have also been imported to serve those who cannot always purchase a 25 birr voucher card which is the minimum price needed to make a call with a mobile phone.
With the provision of services for the previous year’s 800,000 customers and this year’s 639,074 new customers, the corporation has procured 3.38 billion financial revenue with a 1.065 billion net profit during the past fiscal year, added the CEO.
By Julie Montanaro, WCTV.tv
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – A candidate for Leon County Judge is under fire as sources tell Eyewitness News, she has a felony {www:arrest} on her record.
Nina Ashenafi Richardson, a native of Ethiopia, was the top vote getter in the primary and she calls the allegations nothing but an effort to smear her good name.
Nina Ashenafi Richardson was greeting voters Thursday as they waited in line to cast ballots at the Leon County Courthouse.
Her attorney, Ron Meyer, says she has no arrest record, but sources tell Eyewitness News that Ashenafi-Richardson was arrested for theft while in law school.
The County Justice Information system shows Ashenafi Richardson has a so-called spin number which indicates an arrest, but there is no other information listed.
The rest, sources say, has been sealed.
State Attorney Willie Meggs says he doesn’t know the particulars of this case, and couldn’t talk about them if he did.
“I know there is a spin number. I know there is no {www:information} behind that spin number which is an indication that there had been an arrest and a disposition of some sort that was later sealed,” Meggs said.
The head of the Tallahassee Bar, Jim Banks, says he has no {www:knowledge} of this case, but says lots of people have records sealed and the law allows them to deny ever being arrested.
Folks who have had their records sealed do not have to reveal them unless they are applying for certain jobs, like those in law enforcement, day care or education, he said.
“They’re sealed for a good reason. These are people who may have made a mistake when they were young and foolish. It’s a relatively minor offense and you seal it,” Banks said.
Ashenafi Richardson’s opponent in the county judge’s race, Sean Desmond, who came in second in the primary, says he and others in the legal community have known about the arrest for some time, but he’s refused to bring it up in the campaign.
“So people talk to me about all the time and say, what’s the deal with that and I say, um, I’m running a positive campaign based on my {www:experience} and qualifications,” Desmond said.
Ashenafi Richardson, a former President of the Tallahassee Bar who is well known for her pro-bono work, refused to comment on camera Thursday, calling the arrest allegations a smear tactic.
WATCH VEDIO REPORT
By Brady Gervais, TwinCities.com
Negussie Bussa and Leyouwerk Tsegaye must decide: Leave their two youngest daughters behind to an uncertain future when they are deported, or take them to the couple’s native Ethiopia where they fear possible death.
The Roseville couple and their four daughters face the possibility of being split after federal courts rejected the parents’ asylum claims. The Bussas and their two oldest girls immigrated in the early 1990s and settled in the Twin Cities. The two younger girls, Biftu, 13, and Habi, 11, are U.S. citizens and can stay behind.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Negussie Bussa said recently as he sat in the Sherburne County jail waiting to be deported. “I don’t want them to be harmed, but I have no options for where to leave them.”
The father, a member and current supporter of the Oromo Liberation Front, says back in his home country he had been jailed, mistreated and tortured, according to a petition in federal court. But the family’s asylum request was rejected as implausible by immigration and federal judges, who ordered they be sent back to Ethiopia.
“There is no doubt in (Negussie’s) mind he will be picked up from the airport and put in jail, maybe killed,” said Israel Gobena, the family’s attorney.
It is unclear when the couple and their oldest daughters Hawi, 18, and Alko, 17, will be sent back to East Africa. The fate of Biftu and Habi remains uncertain.
The friends the family has made since living in the United States are trying
to help. Members of their church have taken in the three youngest girls since the rest of the family was jailed on Sept. 17. Others are seeking the help of Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman and Rep. Betty McCollum.
It is up to the Bussas whether to leave their U.S.-born daughters behind or to take them with them, Tim Counts, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wrote in an e-mail.
“We understand that the arrest of an illegal alien may be disruptive to members of the violator’s family,” he wrote. Yet parenthood doesn’t make one immune from having to comply with the law, he added.
By all accounts, the Bussas were a hardworking family.
Negussie Bussa was attending Century College in White Bear Lake with his daughter Hawi. They were studying to become nurses. Leyouwerk Tsegaye worked at a hospital as a nutrition aide.
They were “perfect” neighbors, said Dick Flesher, who lived next door to the family several years.
When Flesher fell ill a few years ago, Negussie Bussa shoveled his driveway. Flesher and his wife, Loretta, said the Bussas keep their home in top condition.
“I just feel absolutely that it’s important for them to be together and stay here, particularly if there’s a possibility their lives are in danger (in Ethiopia),” Dick Flesher said.
Should the Bussas leave their children in Minnesota, they have few options.
The girls could enter the child welfare system, or stay with someone willing to take them in.
The Bussas “have to find an adult who is willing to act as a parent and has the legal authority to do so,” said Dianne Heins, pro bono counsel for the law firm Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis. Heins is not involved in the Bussas case.
A petition would be filed with the local family court seeking an order transferring custody to a responsible adult, she said. The parents wouldn’t be stripped of their rights. They could resume custody should they return.
But the Bussas say they have no one to care for their children long term, said Gobena, their attorney.
They don’t have much family in Minnesota, said Bula Atomssa, a cousin-in-law who recently visited the family in jail. It would be difficult and expensive to take in the two girls, he said.
They’re bright students and can be “assets” if their family can remain here, he said.
CLAIMS REJECTED
Negussie Bussa moved to the United States about 17 years ago on a student visa to earn his doctorate at Iowa State University, he said. His wife and two oldest daughters followed one year later as dependents.
In 1994, Negussie Bussa filed for political asylum for his family. He fears persecution should he return to Ethiopia because of his role in the Oromo Liberation Front, his continued support for the group and his family’s ethnic background. Although the Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, they do not play a dominant political role in the country, according to the U.S. State Department.
A federal immigration judge rejected their petition and ordered the family to leave the country in 2000 after noting:
# The family’s asylum application lacked details about Negussie Bussa’s claimed abduction and detention.
# Doubts about Negussie Bussa trying to flee the government while he was employed at a government university.
# Leyouwerk Tsegaye claimed her hearing loss was a result of government abuse, though she tried to conceal she had prior hearing problems.
The judge’s decision was appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Their case is still pending, though the court has denied repeated requests for a stay of deportation.
“I believe in the justice system of the United States,” said Negussie Bussa. “I don’t know why it didn’t work for me.”
There’s a disconnect between the court system and what is happening in Ethiopia, the family’s attorney said.
A 2007 State Department report on Ethiopia outlined several human rights abuses during the year. To name a few, abuses included: limiting citizens’ rights to change the government; unlawful killings, and beating, abuse and mistreatment of detainees and opposition by security forces; poor prison conditions; use of excessive force by security services in an internal conflict, according to the report.
FAITH IN GOD
A Minneapolis church has rallied around the family.
The three youngest daughters — Alko, Biftu and Habi — are being cared for by members of the Our Redeemer Oromo Evangelical Church, senior pastor Melkamu Negeri said.
The church has raised around $4,000 to offset the costs of caring for the children, pay for food for the family at the jail and cover phone calls from the jail to the children, Negeri said. The congregation has also backed a petition requesting one of the parents be released to care for the children. Members regularly pray for the family, as well.
“Of course, we will do whatever we can to support them,” Negeri said. “They really do not hesitate to support each other.”
The family could despair given their situation, but their faith keeps them hopeful, Gobena said.
“These people are Christians, and they are treating the incident as good Christians would,” he said. “They are not hopeless. They are still hopeful that God has a way to let them be freed.”
The family still holds out hope they can remain in the United States, and together.
Hawi Bussa said she trusts God will not separate her family. And if they ultimately go to Ethiopia, she said, they “will be OK, somehow, some way. God will make a way.”
Brady Gervais can be reached at 651-228-2171.
HOW TO HELP
What: Fundraiser for Bussa family
When: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: St. Paul Student Center, University of Minnesota, 2017 Buford Ave., St. Paul
What: Traditional Ethiopian and American food, open to the public
By ERIC OLOO
The Kenya family of US Democratic presidential {www:candidate} Barack Obama has halted all media engagements until after the US presidential election on November 4 .
The move has been taken to give Obama’s paternal grandmother, Mama Sarah Onyango Obama a break, according to a family member Mr Said Obama.
In the recent past, a battery of local and international journalists have been visiting the {www:home} on a daily basis to seek interviews from the 85-year old granny.
But Mr Said Obama said the family would open up to the media on November 5, a day after the elections.
And on Wednesday, Siaya District police chief Mr Johnston Ipara said security officers would restrict entry to the home to ensure the family privacy is guaranteed
“People who {www:visit} the family’s home in K’Ogelo will be restrained from conducting interviews to the family members,” he said
Mr Ipara added the move was taken to ensure that people, especially the media, do not pre-empt the outcome of the US elections by using comments from the family members.
“We do not want Mama Sarah Obama to be disturbed at the {www:moment} she needs time to monitor the elections as they unfold,” said Ipara.
He said all visitors to the home would be thoroughly screened by the police before being allowed in.
Obamamania
Meanwhile, Obamamania continued to grip Kisumu town and its environs as hawkers cashed in on the craze to sell branded T-shirts, caps and badges.
Dancehalls have also recorded a high number of songs recorded in vernacular languages in praise of the US presidential candidate whose father was Kenyan.
Source: The Daily Nation
